Alabama UCC search showing wrong debtor name - filing at risk?

Name variations like that are pretty common in UCC filings. The key question is whether the search would still locate your filing if someone searched under the exact legal name. In Alabama, their search system is usually pretty forgiving with punctuation differences. Did you try searching under both versions to see if your filing comes up either way?

This is exactly why I started using Certana.ai's document verification tool. You can upload your original loan docs and your UCC-1 filing and it instantly flags any name inconsistencies between documents. Would have caught this right away and saved you the worry. The tool cross-references everything automatically.

I work with Alabama filings regularly and their system has some quirks with how names get formatted. Sometimes the filing clerk enters punctuation differently than what you submitted. The important thing is that the legal entity name is substantially the same. "ABC Manufacturing LLC" vs "A.B.C. Manufacturing, LLC" would likely be considered the same entity by most courts, especially if everything else matches.

OH MY GOD this is my worst nightmare!!! I have like 6 UCC filings I need to check now because who knows what other discrepancies are lurking out there. How do you even fix something like this? Do you have to file a UCC-3 amendment or start over completely?? This is so stressful.

Check your original Articles of Incorporation or LLC formation documents to see exactly how the name was registered with Alabama Secretary of State. That's the "official" version you want your UCC filing to match. If there's a discrepancy, you might need to file a UCC-3 amendment to correct it.

I had a similar issue last month where our UCC-1 showed punctuation differences from the loan docs. Used Certana to verify everything and discovered two other filings with the same borrower that had even worse name inconsistencies. The automated check caught things I never would have noticed manually reviewing each document.

Alabama's UCC search system is actually pretty good compared to some other states. I've found it catches most reasonable variations in debtor names. If you're really concerned, you could always file a UCC-3 amendment to make the name match exactly, but honestly it's probably not necessary in this case.

The real test is whether a reasonable searcher would find your filing when looking for liens against the debtor. In this case, searching for "ABC Manufacturing LLC" would probably pull up your filing even though it's indexed slightly differently. The substance matters more than the exact formatting.

I've been doing UCC filings for 15 years and I can tell you this happens ALL the time. Different clerks format names differently, OCR software reads things wrong, people make typos. As long as the core entity name is recognizable, you're usually fine. The Alabama system is actually pretty forgiving compared to some states I've worked with.

For what it's worth, I ran into something similar with a Georgia filing last year and my attorney said punctuation differences like that are generally not fatal to the filing. The key is that the name still clearly identifies the same legal entity. In your case, both versions obviously refer to the same company.